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Nicola, an educational skills tutor, said: 'It is hard to believe that we have lost so much weight between us. We all feel so much better for it, we feel like a different family.We have lost 23 stone between us, in just a year.'

The family piled on weight after eating four takeaways a week. They would binge on curries, Chinese food, pizza and kebabs, and would snack on chocolate and family sized bags of crisps.

Nicola was so overweight that it was caused her to stop breathing as many as 20 times each night.

She said: 'It was frightening. I had to be hooked up to a machine each night to keep my airways open and stop them collapsing.

'I went to see the doctor and he told me that if I didn’t lose weight it would shorten my life by 40 per cent. It terrified me. I needed to be around to help my children grow up.

'When the doctor told me that, it felt like my whole world had collapsed around me. It was a frightening thing to hear - it was like I had been given a death sentence. I knew that I had to do something about it whilst I still could.'

Healthy: According to mum, Nicola, cutting out the junk food has made a huge difference to their wellbeing

Parents: Before losing weight, Nicola (left) was having trouble breathing and was terrified of dying young

Nicola was referred for a gastric bypass operation, but before the operation could go ahead, she needed to lose some weight herself.

So she decided to join Slimming World in January last year and go on a diet. Her son Luke came with her as he wanted to be healthy enough to join the police force. And daughter Sally came along two weeks later as she was getting bullied at school because of her weight.

Nicola said: 'We all had our problems with our weight. It was getting us down as a family. I couldn’t move more than a few feet without getting out of breath and I was risking my life each time I went to bed at night.

'Luke was desperate to join the police force, but at 23st, he was far too fat to do that. And Sally was getting bullied at school because of her weight which was heartbreaking.

'As a mum I really wanted to help her, so I knew that it would be a good idea if we could all lose the weight together.'

So the family ditched the takeaways and instead had cereal for breakfast, pasta for lunch and home made curry for dinner. They snacked on fruit and yoghurt.

Nicola said: 'It was surprisingly easy. Our favourite meal was a mushy pea curry which was a Slimming World receipe. It tasted fantastic and we didn’t miss our takeaways at all.

'We still managed to go to McDonalds for the occasional treat, but we’d all have small portions of fries, instead of the large ones.'

Thwarted: Son Luke was too fat to realise his ambition of becoming a policeman while Sally was being bullied

Nicola managed to lose four stone and was allowed to have her gastric bypass operation in July. She has since lost a total of 8st 1lb, and has gone from a dress size 30 to a much slimmer size 16.

She said: 'I wanted to make sure I would never put the weight back on again, and I thought that was the best way I could guarantee that. It is a big operation, but my life was at stake and I wanted to live as long as possible to see my children grow up.

'I feel like a different person now. I don’t have to be hooked up to the machine at night and I don’t stop breathing anymore. Even my feet have shrunk two sizes, from a size seven to a size five. And my ring size has dropped too.

'Luke can achieve his dream of now being in the police force - his waist has gone from a size 52 inches to 36. And Sally isn’t getting bullied at school anymore. She wore a skirt to school for the first time in September instead of trousers and I was so proud of her.

'Stephen joined in with the diet too and he has managed to lose nearly three stone too, so he feels much healthier too. We feel like a completely different family.'